NASA 4K unveiled

The NASA space agency is to launch an Ultra-HD channel (branded ‘NASA TV UHD’) which it says is the first non-commercial consumer UHD channel in North America.

The launch date is scheduled for November 1st, and the content will be delivered over SES’s AMC-18 satellite, one of three spacecraft (SES-1, SES-3, AMC-18) that make up SES’s Ultra HD neighbourhood at the centre of the orbital arc over North America.

“Our three satellites at the foundation of SES’s North America Ultra HD platform enable the programmers to potentially reach more than 100 million US television homes through virtually every cable TV, IPTV and direct-to-home provider across the region,” said Steve Corda, Vice President of business development for SES in North America.

SES has developed the first Ultra-HD ecosystem capable of providing cable systems with linear live Ultra-HD content. SES unveiled the Ultra-HD platform together with Harmonic at the NAB Conference in April. Successful cable operator trials of the plug-and-play service quickly followed, along with the launch of the first Ultra-HD demonstration channels in North America.

“Armstrong is currently undergoing trials across their cable plant, and other operators are receiving our Ultra-HD channel feeds over SES satellites and will undoubtedly be very excited to add NASA’s UHD channel to their viewing line-ups,” noted Corda.